On May 24th, 1844, Samuel F. B. Morse electronically transmitted the message "What hath God wrought?" While it took him many years, Morse was finally able to receive a grant that allowed him to build a telegraph line from Washington to Baltimore. The telegraph would go on to revolutionize the world's communication.
Like the popularization of the railway in England, the telegraph helped to decrease distance across the continent. We see the difference even within two novels both written in the Victorian Era--Bronte’s Jane Eyre and Braddon’s Lady Audley’s Secret. In Bronte’s novel, set in the 1820s, Jane is dependent largely upon mail via stagecoach for her information and correspondence. Needless to say, sending letters across a long...
more